Tennessee head coach Butch Jones talks with cornerback Justin Martin as the Vols warmed up for practice inside Neyland Stadium on March 26, 2016.
Tennessee dubbed Saturday’s spring practice at Neyland Stadium as “Competition Saturday” and placed the reminder on the video screen.
Linebacker Cortez McDowell completes a drill during Tennessee’s practice at Neyland Stadium on March 26, 2016.KNOXVILLE — Tennessee may be missing a handful of players on both sides of the ball for spring practice, but that didn’t stop the Volunteers from getting after it on Saturday afternoon at Neyland Stadium.
The portion of practice open to the media included extensive full-speed team periods.
Here are a few observations from today’s practice, Tennessee’s sixth of the spring:
*Cameron Sutton again proved he’s very good at football. The senior cornerback made an acrobatic interception of quarterback Josh Dobbs on a slightly underthrown deep ball and later broke up a slant pass intended for Preston Williams from Quinten Dormady.
Sutton appears locked and loaded after passing on an opportunity to enter the NFL draft early.
*Tennessee’s passing game continues to be hit and miss.
For most of the 11-on-11 work, walk-on wide receiver Michael Lacey had made the best play, when he somehow held on to a catch on a slant even after safety Rashaan Gaulden, who was active all afternoon, belted him with a jarring hit.
Josh Smith then made some nice grabs, including a one-handed snag along the sideline on a back-shoulder throw from Dobbs with Sutton all over him.
Smith made another catch in traffic with a defensive back draped all over him.
Williams made a leaping acrobatic touchdown catch over Justin Martin, though head coach Butch Jones called the play back for what he deemed to be a sack. Dobbs was tagged before he threw it, per the coach’s ruling. It was still a nice play by Williams.
*The Vols are down a couple more offensive players as starting center Coleman Thomas and wide receiver Jauan Jennings sat out a second straight practice. Tennessee already was down two starters on the offensive line in Jashon Robertson and Chance Hall. Receiver Josh Malone is out, too.
With Thomas out, Dylan Wiesman is getting plenty of work at center.
*Running backs Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara received very limited work. You could count how many snaps those two stars got on one hand. Though both looked excellent when they did get the ball, expect that to continue.
*The offense struggled to generate many first downs, though Dobbs broke through the line for a long touchdown run on third down.
Walk-on running back Jayson Sparks also broke through the middle of the line and found the end zone from 20-25 yards out after a safety missed his run fit. That came behind the first-team line.
*D.J. Henderson made a couple of nice plays from his cornerback position. The junior college transfer broke up one third down pass early on, then defended fellow JuCo transfer Jeff George perfectly and nearly picked off a deep ball along the sideline.
*Cornerback Marquill Osborne, linebacker Quart’e Sapp and defensive tackle Paul Bain made nice plays on three straight snaps to force one defensive stop.
Defensive end Austin Smith, a converted linebacker, was able to disrupt the pocket off the edge on a few snaps, too.
Smith and redshirt freshman Darrell Taylor are clearly better getting after the passer than they are against the run, as you’d expect as this early juncture of their careers.
*Tennessee rotated pretty openly at linebacker, though it looks like Cortez McDowell is taking over the first-team reps alongside Darrin Kirkland Jr. in the absence of Jalen Reeves-Maybin.
*Dormady took some first-team reps as the Vols manage Dobbs’s workload this spring, and Sheriron Jones took the lion’s share of the second-team reps at quarterback.
More coverage from Saturday’s practice online and in Sunday’s Times Free Press.
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.